‘Once’ touts success

Fox Searchlight celebrates sleeper hit

HOLLYWOOD — Fox Searchlight’s “Once,” made for only $150,000, has been keeping itself afloat at the B.O. since May, so the Irish music pic received a congratulatory party Tuesday at the Landmark Theater.

Offscreen, the movie’s soundtrack has consistently been among Amazon.com’s top sellers.

After the pic was unspooled, attendees congregated in the theater’s wine bar for a four-song set by the film’s leads, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.

The two started with their most recognizable tune, the duet “Falling Slowly,” and ended with a vivacious rendition of Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic.”

The 19-year-old Irglova has been playing the piano and guitar since childhood but had never acted before. “I didn’t know if I could act,” she said. “But I had nothing to lose.”

For Hansard, the pic was the best way for him to spread his music. “You spend 17 years in a band (the Frames) digging against the world, and then you do this little movie, and all of a sudden the world notices,” he said.